WingsGate – Analysing Reporting Scotland

Indyref2 commisisoned an analysis of the evening edition of Reporting Scotland broadcast on Thursday August 2nd.

The programme contained a report on the so-called ‘WingsGate’ episode that saw two pro-Independence bloggers targeted by the BBC which resulted in their Youtube accounts being shut down. Below is the results of that analysis.

Analysis of the 18:30 edition of Reporting Scotland broadcast on August 02nd 2018.

Stories that day

Before we begin our analysis of Reporting Scotland it would be prudent to list the major stories that broke earlier that day. In no particular order they were:

The introduction is a short but important part of the programme. The viewer is effectively being told which of the forthcoming stories are important. The language adopted in the top story “… leaving primary one pupils in tears …” is deliberately emotive. It will already have elicited concern from many, especially female, viewers.

Stories covered

We will next move to the content of the programme in its entirety. Below is a short edited clip showing the presenter introducing each story. The clip lasts 84 seconds.

If we refer to the list of stories that broke that day [See ‘Stories that day’ above] we notice that three of the stories are missing. Not covered on Reporting Scotland were the Audit Scotland report into the Queesferry Crossing project, the call from midwives that Baby Boxes be rolled out across the UK and – quite incredible given Brexit is the biggest issue in the UK today – the warning from Michel Barnier that Scottish brands such as Scotch whisky will be vulnerable when the UK leaves the EU.

Missing stories

Of the three, it is the Michel Barnier story that stands out. Here we have a new development in the Brexit issue, and one that has significant implications for Scotland. Yet BBC Scotland’s flaship evening news programme omits any mention of it.

Was BBC Scotland aware of Barier’s warnings? Yes is the answer. The story featured on that day’s Good Morning Scotland programme at around 08:45.

It also rather belatedly, and briefly, appeared as the top story on BBC Scotland online later that afternoon.

So why was it not included in that evening’s Reporting Scotland? It was certainly more worthy of coverage than a lottery win, and the item on satellite coverage of Scottish wildfires was not time critical. The Scottish government issued its own statement at 14:59 that very afternoon. There is no logical or journalistic reason for the absence of Barnier’s warning about Scottish brands from the programme.

A case can also be made for the Audit Scotland report. This report was being heavily trailed by Audit Scotland for weeks prior to its publication. The report covered the management of arguably the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Scotland.

When published, the report into the Queensferry Crossing project was quite astonishing. The report authors lavished praise on Transport Scotland and the Scottish government, as can be heard in this official Audit Scotland podcast. The extent of the positivity was so unusual that it demanded coverage.

Below is a short video from Audit Scotland

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The Baby Box call from the Royal College of Midwives had a very clear Scottish angle, given the Scottish government introduced the scheme last year. It’s worth recalling the coverage afforded Baby Boxes by Reporting Scotland at the time.

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If critical comments of Baby Boxes by organisations south of the border are considered worthy of coverage in 2017 then a positive call from the Royal College of Midwives is also deserving of coverage in 2018. Unless of course different criteria is being applied.

Wings Over Scotland

We turn now to the story that has dominated political discourse, at least online, since it first broke on Sunday July 29th. We refer of course to the closing down of two pro-Independence Youtube accounts after copyright complaints levelled by the BBC.

The first thing we noted was the placement of this story on Reporting Scotland. Seventh place for a story that, according to most observers, has led to a serious erosion of trust in the BBC within the pro-independence community.

This placement is illogical and jarring. In terms of breaking stories this was major. A BBC Scotland official earlier that day had confirmed the involvement of a Scottish Labour politician in the episode that led to the targeting of two pro-independence bloggers. It was also revealed, on the John Beattie Show, that the Scottish Labour politician had been involved in private discussions with the BBC prior to the corporation filing complaints with Youtube.

This story was a very clear candidate for top spot on Reporting Scotland given its magnitude. Indeed it difficult to make a case for the Lib Dem Freedom of Information request maintaining its own top spot in the face of such a politically incendiary story involving the BBC, Scottish Labour and Scotland’s most well-known pro-Independence political blogger.

We now turn our attention to the actual content of the item, or rather what it doesn’t contain.

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There’s no mention of the involvement of the Scottish Labour councillor. This was the sensational development that emerged earlier that day on the John Beattie Show. The BBC admitted it had engaged a pro-Union politician in a private exchange whereupon that politician had alerted the corporation to two pro-independence youtube accounts that held BBC content. There is no journalistic reason to omit this information.

The top story

The decision to allocate top spot to what was, in effect, a politically motivated Freedom of Information request from the Scottish Lib Dems, is equally bizarre.

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The item, which sought to imply serious issuess with P1 pupil assessments, lacked context and depth. A few emotive anecdotes from ‘some teachers’ were presented as ‘evidence’ with no explanation as to how the evidence was gathered. Viewers were told “children experienced distress and cried” and “a child had soiled themselves [sic]”. How many teachers and how many chidren was never fully explained. The story was weak and certainly not worth its top spot placement. There was, remarkably, no mention of the involvement of the Scottish Lib Dems in the story.

Overall conclusion

There were several questionable production decisions relating to the Reporting Scotland edition on August 2nd.

The first was the ommission of three stories of significant relevance to Scotland. Michel Barnier’s Brexit warning about whisky, the Audit Scotland report into the Queensferry Crossing and the Baby Box call from the Royal College of Midwives.

There is no justifiable reason for the exclusion of all three stories. A lottery win is a filler item of no great significance. The dispute over a child’s grave, whilst tragic and heartbreaking, is not of greater national significance than the three aforementioned stories that were ignored. Was the wildfire story really of greater national interest?

The second issue is the placement of the Wings Over Scotland item. Seventh place did not reflect the significance of this story which called into question the impartiality of the BBC with respect to Scottish independence. Indeed there are signs that the BBC may never fully recover from the fallout. There is also the question over the presentation of the item. Omitting the most politically damaging aspects of the story, the involvment of the Scottish Labour councillor, appears politically motivated.

Finally, given the number of significant stories available to the Reporting Scotland production team that day, the decision to allocate top spot to the P1 assessment story cannot be explained journalistically.

Our conclusion is that there are other influences, beyond journalistic, being brought to bear in the production of this edition of Reporting Scotland. What those influences are is not known.

Indyref2 would like to do more news pieces. Feel free to make a contribution towards this goal.

19 thoughts on “WingsGate – Analysing Reporting Scotland”

At the upcoming demonstration at Pacific Quay it would be helpful if someone was on hand to talk people like myself through the process of legally stopping paying the licence fee while still being able to watch television. I would like to do this but I don’t know what is involved.

You may own a television and not have a license provided it is incapable of recieving live broadcasts, BBC or otherwise. In practice this means having no ariel. You MAY watch catch up services such as itv, stv, channel 4 and channel 5 etc. with the specific exception of BBC iPlayer. If TV licencing representatives come to your door you are under no obligation to give them your name or allow them into your home if they are not in possession of a search warrant and accompanied by a police officer. If you do not confirm your name to them they will not be able to obtain a search warrant. Search for “active resistance to the TV licence” on social media for more information.

He also tells you how to sign the online declaration so you don’t get threatening letters. I did this in 2014, renew the declaration on request every three years and have never been bothered by anybody.

The above site also has loads of info on the many catch up services you can sign up for or try for free. You can access everything except stuff on the BBC iplayer. I haven’t missed live TV one little bit.

Great article Indyref2. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked by how brazen and transparent their agenda is now.

Independent woman, I stopped paying in 2012. I removed my name from the open register on the electoral roll. I get letters and warnings from the licensing people now addressed to ‘the occupant’. They are ignored. I haven’t paid it in 6 years and I will never pay it again.

Ditto. I wrote out a cheque in July 2014 made payable to TV Licence around the time I was becoming involved in the upcoming referendum and – increasingly more disgusted by their anti-Scottish agenda – I made a decision not to pay the licence fee. I never sent that cheque and I still have it in a drawer. I will never pay that fee again.

I’ve had not one single letter from them, no one has come to my door and no one has threatened me.
I have a theory about this; I’m positive there was a massive non-payment in the weeks and months after Sept ’14 – blog comments, tweets and letters confirm as such – and it’s my belief they’ve ‘given up’ collecting the fee from non-payers in Scotland. Apart from the fact it would be logistically impossible to send representatives round to unknown residents and ‘occupiers’, I think the real reason is the publicity it would generate would reflect badly on them (see Scott Arthur/BBC/Wings over Scotland)

People who continue to pay the licence fee are bankrolling the BBC against Scotland – that is an inescapable fact.
I no longer watch any television and I don’t miss it.

My friend no longer pays it and sends their form back to them; “I no longer use a television set”. They reply by saying; ‘That’s fine, Mr Young – we’ll contact you in a couple of years to see if there’s any change in status’.. There won’t be.

Stop paying them, they’re lying to you and screwing you. If you pay that fee you’re harming Scots, you’re affecting how your children and grandchildren will go forward, you’re encouraging the continuance of the union. Don’t pay it.

Why should anyone in Scotland be forced to pay TV licence. Considering the BBC do a poor job of actually reporting the news.
Sadly the Scottish TV is not devolved. But we should insist that Scottish reporting must be open and honest. I think the only way to do this would be on mass complaints against BBC biased reporting.
I know Scotland has a separate law system. I would be interested in knowing if there is a legal way we could force fair and honest reporting?
Furthermore we must stop referring to sectarian groups as Sectarian and start calling them what they really are. Apartheid groups. 😊

Imagine being Sally Magnusson, J Bird or any of the others about to fall. Like Labour, Tories and LibDems who hysterically criticised the baby boxes and the bridge now looking like the whinney turds they are.

This article’s analysis shows that ‘Wingsgate’ has changed nothing. Peter Curran, to my knowledge has been effectively closed down. He has no clout and the BBC/Slab/Youtube axis has moved back to default of lying and suppressing the real news with the Propaganda that they have been defecating on to our population for at least a decade.

Yet again, the SNP in Government are doing what about it? The rhetorical response as ever is sweet F.A. They should have been leading the calvary charge against the despicable Ministry of Truth squatting on Pacific Quay..not because of Wings per se…but because of the naked attempt to smother democracy and freedom of speech in this country revealed red handed by this incident.

This site and those who agree with it, have known for years that unless political mobilisation by the SNP and Yes movement occurs directly against the BBC, then we will lose any further Referenda. Mass non payment of the BBC tax is long overdue plus targeted phone and media attacks on the BBC by party members and YES adherents. The Britnats have been doing it forever…and it has worked.

For the first time, I saw the SNP media person emerge over the Wings debacle. AS spoke out. But where are our leaders? AUOB is great. But it is only one dimension of what is required. How many of the actual voters in this country have any clue of what is actually being done to destroy our economy and our very identity by the BBC?

Thank you for a very informative, well researched read.
Is there any chance someone could orchestrate a mass signing on demo day outside BBC of a pledge sheet indicating the people of Scotland will withhold their license fees if present BBC management continue to ignore major news stories concerning Scotland’s future interests, prosperity and world growth.
P.S. Keep up the good work x

I am a long time SNP member but I am increasingly dismayed at the lack of action by the SNP over issues like this. I am afraid that they are becoming like the Westminster government – giving bland answers when challenged and are too ‘respectable’ to stand up for democracy.

It is no coincidence that SNP membership surges when they get into a fight with Westminster, which happens all too rarely. I think the way forward is grass roots.

This pantomime is going every day 24 / 7 this + & – Game where the minus – always goes to the top of the running order , very occasionally the Plus + makes an appearance .

Many thanks for taking the time to show clearly and in simple terms how the game is being played ,i have often wondered why some stories are given prominence over others and why some stories are not even covered .

As far as i can see this BBC in Scotland are using people’s busy lifestyle and short attention span to confuse them into thinking well it’s the BBC they wouldnt purposely deceive us would they , i mean Aunty is our friend aren’t they.

Way past time for the Scottish Government to really start getting in amongst the management of the BBC they are not their friends , the BBC won’t cover it is no excuse other organisations who are in direct competition to them just might if you dont try you have failed at the first hurdle , sometimes just trying raises awareness to what is going on .

“What those influences are is not known”. Oh yeah… they’re known. It’s just not provable so you can’t say what they are. But you know. And *I* know. The BBC is blatantly biased. They don’t report what’s GOOD about the work SNP does and doesn’t report how bad they themselves are!

But this is a really good analysis of that day’s programming. And much like most days! Omitting the good things Scotland does but underlining & over-playing what they do wrong… or what they make, LOOK wrong! But Scots are not stupid and we see what they are up to. And every day I see people on twitter, tweeting that they’ve thrown their licenses in the bin. I did it four years ago… Sometimes I wish I hadn’t so that I could have the pleasure of doing it again! LOL! But you can tell that BBC are getting VERY TWITCHY about the loss of revenue in Scotland. Hence the newspaper article about how the BBC feels Scots need better programming with more tartan, bagpipes & more doric for their buck. They REFUSE to acknowledge that that won’t cut it!! We want more HONESTY & MORE ACCURATE NEWS REPORTING for our buck! We want LESS BIAS & LESS WM nonsense for our buck! But we’re never going to get that. We’re just going to get more bagpipes then they are going to whine that we’re ‘never happy’ in spite of what they give us… and make us look like we’re UNGRATEFUL and there’s NO PLEASING US.

A lot of folks asking about a mass pledge signing to stop paying the TV tax – I believe that is already being organised for the PQ Rally. I read on Twitter that there will be a day where we all, as one, cancel our License Fee DD’s and throw them in the bin.

Folks also asking why SNP didn’t say anything about the WingsGate affair. I believe that that is why Alex Salmond got involved. I think it’s very possible that they asked Alex Salmond to interfere, given that they may not wish TO BE SEEN to be interfering in what is, after all, a fight between two ‘private’ bloggers and the BBC. HOWEVER, I think it’s quite on the cards that they decided they had to interfere but in a more subtle way… hence getting the Big Boy to step in and do what he could! The next day Hannah Bardell, on behalf of Scotparl, wrote HER letter to the BBC. So I believe that Scotgov HAVE put their finger in the Wingsgate pie – they’ve just not been obvious about it.

Though to be honest, I don’t know/understand exactly why it NEEDS to be so ‘close to the chest’. And I did make that point when I emailed my MP. I made it clear that I believed WM sat up and took more notice when they walked out of WM. The tories were actually alarmed at that. But by ‘walking back in’, it became an empty gesture and so were laughed and jeered at. They know we know we need to be represented there… So it was inevitable that they had to go back in. They think voters would have been up in arms that they weren’t represented. Quite frankly, I’d be HAPPY to see them ‘come home’. But the other three parties would have made a REAL FEAST out of the fact that Scots weren’t being represented…

I can’t say I’ve seen them doing much of the ‘we’ll interrupt proceedings every chance we get’ thing either. :-/ HOWEVER, I believe much is going on in the background. *I* personally believe it is going to come down to dissolving the union, rather than a Ref in the near future. But I believe that it has to be LEGAL because the world is watching. The world is on our side, on Scotland’s side. And it wants to back us up. BUT – the road to independence has to be followed LEGALLY or they cannot back it! To back an illegal dissolution would, I think, make them look like they back ANY country or region just deciding they’ve had enough of the ‘mother country’ and they can’t be seen to back that kind of coup. So our independence has to be done in such a way that the EU, Canada etc. can say ‘welcome! We’re glad to have you’…

Nicola and Michael Russell are VERY clever! They’re very astute and they know the law. They will use & cover EVERY AVENUE POSSIBLE to make sure we get away from WM. They are JUST AS KEEN AS WE ARE to leave this dissunited kingdom. While they may LOOK like they are standing by and just watching (well, yes, they WILL be doing that but with a view to getting the timing right!), their keen eyes will be assessing EVERYTHING. And they will make this dissolution work and work LEGALLY. Its easy to get impatient – but its easy to get things WRONG too. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey…

Tarisgal I really hope you are right , in the meantime the supporters are getting kinda edgy , and leadership from the front is required , subtle hints at this stage while very nice wont cut it , this might be our one and only chance so it’s all in or walk away .

Being shown as a competent administration while very nice but it’s moving at a snail’s pace and as shown by the way the BBC in Scotland behave they can pick away at any success the Scottish Government are achieving at their leisure , time we dont have is running out .

Tarisgal….’.Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey’…I used that expression on ‘Wings’ about 5 x years ago…back when I was naive enough to think the SNP had a plan to attack the media and more importantly, the BBC in the lead up the REF.

How stupid was I!…Blair Jenkins denied BBC bias constantly . Purdah was trashed constantly and consistently, with the worst example being Brown’s live intervention on BBC the night before the actual vote. Add in the rigged postal votes and you had a coup happening in front of your eyes. Injury was added to insult the next day with the loyalist riff raff incited by shady NI exiled ‘protected’ leaders to beat up innocent young Yessers in George Sq.

This was a message designed for civic Scotland as to what would happen if we had the temerity to try it again.The BBC have carried on not just regardless, but at full propaganda warp drive. The SNP despite one electoral vistory after another have revealed themselves weak and indecisive and irresolute. We are now on the brink of an all out disaster of a No Deal Brexit or a carved up fudge to save face for both the EU and Uk by delaying the split longer. The first option will destroy our economy, the second will disable the Indy movement, because the SNP have nailed their white flag to the Devolved deal being the main plank for compliance instead of going all out for Independence. A shabby deal will torpedo a return to full blooded Independence by the SNP, I believe, because most Scots won’t have the stomach for the fight without any momentum having been built for it hitherto.

If the SNP had kept their courage and fought the last election purely on Indy, they may have lost even more ground temporarily, but kept the respect of the ‘YES’ voters, or the received wisdom is that the 1/2 million who deserted the cause could have turned out and slaughtered Col Gadafti and her ‘no Surrender’ bullshit. Either way the SNP ended up the majority…but to what purpose? Only when they walked out, did anybody notice?. But by returning and getting in line with the Westminster club, they totally wiped out the respect won. We are not going to win with meekness. Peaceful civil disobediance, such as mass cancelling of tv licences is the start. Remember the Poll tax? But it’s time that the SNP woke up and remembered what they were elected for…not safe managerial compliance…but Independence and dissolutuion of the UK State!

I totally agree with your anger at what looks like capitulation by the SNP and that they are ‘too nice’. And as I said – I felt that their ‘walk out’ was wasted by walking back in. That they undid the respect they got, by going back. However, I also believe they ARE in a cleft stick…

They need ‘soft no’s’ to get us well & truly over the line that WM won’t be able to argue about. If there isn’t a good, large margin for win, WM will, I believe, go down the ‘there isn’t a big enough ‘yes’ vote so we’re not accepting the result and you are NOT getting your freedom’ legal battle route. It has to be a pretty comprehensive win to be SURE that Holyrood can tell WM where to STICK their ‘I’m not playing’ nonsense. But to get the ‘soft no’s’, they have to do things right. Where you & I see walking out and staying out as the best idea, the unionists will play on the soft no’s with the ‘you are NOT being represented in WM as you voted for!’ and because ‘soft no’s’ are easily persuaded, they’ll accept that nonsense! And they’ll vote no. Holyrood, Scotgov, SNP – they know this and they know they have to be careful. The balance between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is shoogly – it’s 50/50… In order to get those soft no’s onboard, Scotgov have to be a little more careful than just say ‘to hell with it, lets leave WM’… I’d LOVE to see them do that!! Believe me! But the canny bit of me says ‘no, that’s dangerous to getting no onboard’. We need them. That’s a fact.

Yep – SNP were elected for independence & dissolution. But I don’t believe that is what EVERYONE voted them in for. There are a lot of ‘no’s’ that vote for them simply because they’re the better government. But many of those people DON’T WANT indy. So we can’t say that that is strictly why they were voted in. HOWEVER, I believe more and more are realising that that good governance they voted for, is going to disappear with Brexit. So I believe that they WILL move toward indy to keep what they have.

But Nicola said, “We’ll wait and see what Brexit really means”. And so she has to do that. We don’t quite know yet if we’re having a soft Brexit or a bad brexit or a no-deal brexit. If people see its just a bad brexit, they may feel they can cope with that more than independence. If they get a NO DEAL Brexit, they may feel they can’t cope with THAT and vote for Indy. It doesn’t look good at the moment and a ‘no-deal’ could very well happen. Though from a few things I’ve seen today, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it’s going to be just a ‘bad’ one… we may have a deal with Oz & THEIR beef, and NZ with their lamb… two ‘bad deals’… But it remains to be seen if soft no’s will feel better now it looks like there MAY BE deals coming. They may not care that Scots brands are going to be affected.

But so far Nicola has been ahead of May, thinking ahead, and doing ahead ie the Continuity Bill… going to the EU and talking deals with 27 other countries, and looking for support if things with WM get really hairy. The EU can’t do A THING at the moment, but from 29th March, their hands are untied & they can support Scotland all they want. But my argument still stands. This indy thing has to be done LEGALLY. And all the steps have to be done according to the law or we get NO support from anyone & no trade deals, nothing to help us get back on our feet. Not a good start. Nicola & Scotgov know this. So they have to follow the rules & make sure they do things according to the law. It’s no good declaring indy – and the world saying “No! That was a COUP!”

I’m as impatient as you are. I’ve never been good with hanging about, waiting. But it’s not ALL ABOUT SCOTGOV. If we want Independence, we have to go out there and get it!! We have to march, have street stalls, get leaflets printed & put through letterboxes. We shouldn’t be leaving all this to just our government. This is something WE want, and we need to work on this too. This is our time to go do it. So I am…